Compositions, treatments, and diagnostics for Schistosomiasis and related diseases

Abstract

Compositions and methods are provided for the detection and treatment of Schistosoma parasites. These compositions and methods are based on nucleic acid and amino acid sequences of Schistosoma phosphofructokinase.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An isolated polynucleotide comprising: (a) a nucleic acid sequence at least 12 bases long and having at least 95% sequence identity with SEQUENCE ID NO: 1, which is capable of hybridizing with the complement of SEQUENCE ID NO: 1 under low stringency conditions, or   (b) a nucleic acid sequence complementary to the sequence of (a).   
     
     
       2. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 1 wherein said nucleic acid sequence is a naturally occurring nucleic acid sequence. 
     
     
       3. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 2 wherein said nucleic acid sequence has the sequence of SEQUENCE ID NO: 1. 
     
     
       4. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 2 wherein said polynucleotide comprises a fragment of SEQUENCE ID NO: 1 and is at least 12 bases in length and which will hybridize to Schistosoma nucleic acids encoding phosphofructokinase. 
     
     
       5. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 4 wherein said fragment is at least 18 bases in length. 
     
     
       6. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 5 wherein said oligonucleotide has a nucleic acid sequence selected from a region of said SEQUENCE ID NO: 1 that does not encode a fructose-6-phosphate binding site or ATP binding site of Sm-PFK. 
     
     
       7. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 5 wherein said fragment is an oligonucleotide 20 bases or greater in length. 
     
     
       8. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 1 wherein said polynucleotide is 40 bases or greater in length. 
     
     
       9. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 8 wherein said nucleic acid sequence is identical to SEQUENCE ID NO: 1. 
     
     
       10. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 1 wherein said nucleic acid sequence is complementary to the sequence of SEQUENCE ID NO: 1. 
     
     
       11. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 10 wherein said polynucleotide comprises a fragment complementary to SEQUENCE ID NO: 1 and is at least 12 bases in length and which will hybridize to Schistosoma nucleic acids encoding phosphofructokinase. 
     
     
       12. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 11 wherein said polynucleotide has a nucleic acid sequence selected from a region of said SEQUENCE ID NO: 1 that does not encode a fructose-6-phosphate binding site or ATP binding site of Sm-PFK. 
     
     
       13. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 11 wherein said fragment is at least 18 bases in length. 
     
     
       14. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 13 wherein said fragment is an oligonucleotide 20 bases or greater in length. 
     
     
       15. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 14 wherein said oligonucleotide is 40 bases or greater in length. 
     
     
       16. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 15 wherein said nucleic acid sequence is identical to SEQUENCE ID NO: 1. 
     
     
       17. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 11 wherein said nucleic acid sequence includes an ATG translation intiation codon. 
     
     
       18. An isolated polynucleotide of claim 11 wherein said isolated polynucleotide is an oligonucleotide 12 to 40 bases in length. 
     
     
       19. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 1 wherein said nucleic acid sequence encodes a protein with the amino acid sequence of SEQUENCE ID NO: 2. 
     
     
       20. A method for producing phosphofructokinase, comprising: (a) culturing a cell transformed with an expression vector comprising said polynucleotide of claim 2, wherein said vector contains control sequences for expression that are compatible with said cell, under conditions that allow expression of said polynucleotide, and   (b) isolating the phosphofructokinase produced in (a).   
     
     
       21. The method for producing phosphofructokinase of claim 20 wherein said cell is an E. coli cell.